Toy Story 5 Review

Credit - Pixar/Disney

As an unabashed Toy Story fan, I was firmly in the “Toy Story 4 Was Unnecessary” camp. Toy Story 3 was so perfect that I didn’t see how you could follow that up. Now? I’m still not the biggest fan of Toy Story 4, but I’m thankful for it because we wouldn’t have the gift that is Toy Story 5 without it.

Toy Story 5 focuses on Bonnie’s toys, now led by Jessie (Joan Cusack) and Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen), and their battle against their strongest foe to date - an electronic tablet called the Lilypad (Greta Lee). Like the previous four iterations of Toy Story, this one sticks to the franchise’s formula of the toys getting lost only to be found by the end of the film. However, as with the other films, it’s everything that happens between the lost and found that makes Toy Story 5 magical.

A huge part of the between comes courtesy of writing-directing duo Andrew Stanton and Kenna Harris’s approach to the new film. Again, there’s no departure from the DNA of Toy Story lore. Stanton and Harris still use an inciting incident that separates the toys from the comforts of the home they share with their child, and the struggle to return as the plot. Same beats and all, and it still works 31 years later. The child-toy connection was here and relatable long before Toy Story existed, and the Stanton-Harris duo continues Toy Story’s excellence in preserving its innocence and nostalgia.

Where Stanton and Harris peak with Toy Story 5 is when they choose to depart from the franchise’s tried-and-true recipe. In a surprising yet welcome turn, Toy Story 5 is Jessie’s movie instead of the usual Woody and Buzz show that was the franchise’s cornerstone. While that shift gave Jessie some much-needed character development, it also opens the door for Stanton and Harris to take Toy Story 5 into its most heartfelt places. They take on socially relevant topics such as peer pressure, aging, self-acceptance, and the dangers of online play, but present them in ways that engage kids and adults alike.

The voice talent mirrors the off-camera approach: the familiar faces are there, but it’s the others who shine. Don’t get it twisted – the Hanks-Allen/Woody-Buzz combo is still undefeated. Still, and as stated earlier, it’s Jessie’s show, and Cusack is incredible. Her performance stands out because her ability to humanize Jessie and make the toy’s lower points feel real is the heart of Toy Story 5.

Equally as good as Cusack is Conan O’Brien. If not for Jessie, O’Brien’s Smarty Pants would be the star of Toy Story 5. Honestly, Smarty Pants might still be the star. Conan’s work as an early model tech toy feels like a reunion with the comedic genius’s most unhinged late-night talk show moments. He starts slow, but there’s never a dull moment when O’Brien is heard on the screen once he gets going.

After a slight dip with the previous film, Toy Story 5 proves there’s still a lot of life left in the franchise’s battery and possibly more if it remains plugged into the relevance it draws from real life. It doesn’t reach the heights of Toy Story 3, but it doesn’t have to, because through its much-needed, heartfelt messaging, Toy Story 5 is just as powerful in its own way.